Literary Criticism

Claybaugh, Amanda.
"Dickensian Intemperance: Charity and Reform." Claybaugh begins, "The Pickwick Papers (1836-37) is now best known for having inaugurated the Victorian novel. ... After Pickwick, and because of its example, novels tended to take a single form: often illustrated, often serialized, invariably realist, and almost always socially engaged. But Pickwick was, I want to suggest, inaugural in another sense as well. It was the first novel to think through the relation between realism and social reform." Novel: A Forum on Fiction 37, 1/2 (Fall 2003) [first page only, jstor].

Teaching Materials

"The Industrial Revolution." Background reading on the Industrial Revolution as it relates to Oliver Twist and Hard Times. Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute.

Oliver Twist. A guide for teaching the novel, from PBS. Includes suggestions on presenting and discussing episodes of the film version and suggestions for using film to develop critical, analytical skills.